in a 2-1 win<\/a> for the Americans\u2019 third straight trip to the WBC final.<\/p>\nManager Mark DeRosa moved Henderson into the starting spot because of his favorable career numbers against Severino, and that decision paid off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I can see his pitches well,\u201d Henderson said, \u201cand it\u2019s something that gives you confidence going into the game. I was able to fight off a couple good pitches and then get one more over the plate, and I didn\u2019t miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson entered the game 7 for 9 in his career against Severino with a home run, double and four RBIs. Bregman is 5 for 21 in the regular season against Severino with a homer and three RBIs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven of nine, that\u2019s a good sample size,\u201d DeRosa said. \u201cHe obviously sees Luis well, and Luis threw the heck out of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson has gone 6 of 14 with a double and two home runs in three WBC games. <\/p>\n
DeRosa added he spoke on Saturday with Bregman, who has gone 2 for 11 in four games, about the benching. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys like the lineup out the night before, so I was able to do that, and he was good with it,\u201d DeRosa said. \u201cIt\u2019s game on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Smith started at catcher over Cal Raleigh, who is hitless in nine plate appearances this WBC.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s game was expected to be a thrilling star-studded matchup, with the Dominicans bringing the hottest lineup in the tournament against arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n
The Dominicans are 5-0 in the tournament, have outscored opponents 51-10 while batting .312.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkenes is one of the best pitchers today in the major leagues,\u201d Dominican manager Albert Pujols said. \u201cBut we also have one of the best offenses in this tournament, so it\u2019s going to be power versus power. We\u2019ll try to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara will start on Tuesday if the Dominicans advance to the final regardless of who they face, Pujols said. Italy plays Venezuela in the semis on Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlcantara will be our pitcher no matter what,\u201d Pujols said. \u201cIf God gives us that opportunity, if we move to the final, Alcantara will be the starter. I\u2019m not going to change it no matter what, no matter if it is Italy or Venezuela. … I trust Sandy, and I hope to be here talking with you on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Gunnar Henderson started at third base for the United States over Alex Bregman Sunday night…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":659732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[92086,2730,1276,4711,6064,723,108929,2219,180315,210806,1822,34554,14852,62,67,132,68,32322,5956],"class_list":["post-659731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-albert-pujols","tag-alex-bregman","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-cal-raleigh","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-gunnar-henderson","tag-italy","tag-luis-severino","tag-mark-derosa","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-paul-skenes","tag-sandy-alcantara","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-venezuela","tag-will-smith"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116239054475473768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}